It is very well known that Meteorologists working in the weather office compile all the data such as humidity, air pressure, wind speed, wind direction, temperature, etc. to prepare weather reports every day. Let us learn what is the difference between weather and climate.

 

People in the meteorological departments have been maintaining records of the weather for the past several decades. These records help us to determine the weather pattern at a place. The average weather pattern taken over a long time, say 25 years is called the climate of the place.

 

What is Climate?

 

The climate of a region is generally the prevailing weather conditions of the regions such as temperature, air pressure, humidity, precipitation, cloudiness, sunshine, and winds throughout the year averaged over many years.

 

In simple and short we can say the climate is average weather conditions including temperature, rainfall, and wind of a certain region. If we find that the temperature at a place is high during most parts of the year, then we say that the climate of that place is hot. If the same place also receives rainfall most of the days, then we can say that the climate of that place is hot and wet.

 

Let us take some examples:

 

Data for the western region of India, for example, Rajasthan, shows that the temperature is high during most of part of the year, but during winter which lasts only for a few months, the temperature is quite low. This region gets scanty rainfall. We can say that the climate of Rajasthan is hot and dry.

 

In the northeastern part of India, it rains for the most part of the year. Therefore we can say that the climate of the northeastern region of India is wet. On comparing the climatic conditions of Jammu and Kashmir and Kerala we find that Kerala is very hot and wet in comparison to Jammu and Kashmir.

 

So, in all the cases, the climate of the particular region is determined from the average weather conditions of the area over a long period of time.

 

Weather

 

Here is a sample of a weather report from a newspaper. We find that the daily weather report carries information about the temperature, humidity, and rainfall during the past 24 hours. It also predicts the weather for the day. Humidity, as you might know, is a measure of the moisture in the air.

 

Do all days have the same maximum and minimum temperatures, humidity, and rainfall? The maximum and minimum temperatures recorded may be the same for some of the days. However, all the parameters are not the same on any two days. Over a week there may be considerable variation.

 

What is weather?

 

The day-to-day condition of the atmosphere at a place with respect to the temperature, humidity, rainfall, wind speed, etc., is called the weather at that place. The temperature, humidity, and other factors are called the elements of the weather.

 

The weather of a place changes day after day and week after week. That is why we often say, �today�s weather is too humid�, or �the weather was warm last week�. The weather is such a complex phenomenon that it can vary over very short periods of time.

 

It can happen sometimes that it is sunny in the morning, but suddenly clouds appear from nowhere and it starts raining heavily. Or, heavy rain may vanish in a matter of minutes and give way to bright sunshine. Since the weather is such a complex phenomenon, it is not easy to predict.

 

As it is clear from any weather report, the maximum and minimum temperatures are recorded every day. Do you know how these temperatures are recorded? There are special thermometers for this purpose, called maximum and minimum thermometers.

 

Can you guess when during the day we have the maximum temperature and when the minimum?

 

The maximum temperature of the day occurs generally in the afternoon while the minimum temperature occurs generally in the early morning.

 

Polar Bear's Adaptation

 

Polar bears have white fur, which helps them for camouflage in ice and snow. It protects them from their predators. Their white coat makes them almost invisible as they stalk their prey. They have two thick layers of fur to keep them warm in frigid air and water.

 

Their fur is made up of hollow hair. Besides the thick layer of fur polar bears also have a tough hide and insulating fat layer (up to 11 cm). This excellent insulation keeps a polar bear warm even when the air temperature drops to minus 37 degrees Celsius. They have to move slowly and rest often to avoid getting overheated.

 

Polar bears are strong swimmers. They can swim for several hours at a time over long distances. Polar bears use front paws to propel them through the water. The hind feet and legs are used as rudders. It can close its nostrils when underwater.

 

It has a strong sense of smell so that it can catch its prey for food. In winter they search for breathing holes made by seals. Polar bears can smell seals up to 20 miles away. When the seal comes up for air, the polar bear will kill and flip it out of the water with a single blow of its great clawed paw.

 

Polar bears have curved claws to dig through the ice. Their ears and tails are small to minimize heat loss. Another well-known animal living in the polar regions is the penguins.

 

Penguins adaptations

 

A layer of air is trapped under their feathers which insulate the penguins from freezing cold. Penguins also have a layer of blubber or fat under the skin to protect them from cold. Their feathers overlap like roof tiles keeping water away from the skin.

 

Overlapping, densely packed feathers make a surface almost impenetrable to wind or water. Penguins have black backs and white bellies. This countershading serves to camouflage the bird when it is in the water. Colour shading also helps the penguins hunt with more success.

 

Penguins have streamlined body, webbed feet and ore like wings which enable penguin to swim through water at a seed up to 15km/hr. when penguins swim it appears as if they are flying through water. Penguins are the only birds that migrate by swimming. Penguins often huddle together to keep them warm.

 

Seals, whales, reindeers, foxes, muskoxen, birds, and many types of fishes also live in polar regions. Fishes are well adapted to remain under cold water for long. During extreme winter birds of the polar regions migrate to warmer regions. They come back after winter is over.

 

India is one of the destinations of many of these birds Siberian cranes come from Siberia to places like Bharatpur in Rajasthan and Sultanpur in Haryana.

 

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